Police: All three Piazza shooters under arrest

By Allison Steele, Joseph A. Slobodzian and Troy Graham

Inquirer Staff Writers

A month after a well-known party planner and her companion were gunned down inside a posh Northern Liberties apartment building, police say they have arrested all three gunmen in the sprawling and complicated case of a drug robbery gone bad.

The latest two arrests were the sixth and seventh in a probe that has focused a spotlight on the city's night-club scene and the drug underworld.

Police identified Antonio Wright and Donnell Murchison, both arrested Wednesday, as two of the shooters who opened fire on Rian Thal, 34, and Timothy Gilmore, 40, on June 27. A third shooting suspect was arrested three weeks ago. Wright's arrest was disclosed yesterday.

"We've taken a lot of bad people off the street, and that's been a good thing," Capt. James Clark, head of the Homicide Unit, said yesterday of the latest arrests. "We're not through with this."

As many as a dozen people could face charges, but Clark declined to identify any suspects still at large.

When police arrived at the Piazza at Schmidts to investigate the murders of Thal and Gilmore, a former Detroit firefighter living in Ohio, no one anticipated how complex the investigation would become, Clark said.

The victims were found outside Thal's seventh-floor apartment in the complex's Navona building. Thal had 4 kilograms of cocaine and more than $100,000 in cash in her apartment when she was killed, police said.

Detectives identified Will Hook, 40, as the mastermind behind an attempt to rob Thal and described him as a significant drug dealer - a charge his attorney adamantly denies. Hook surrendered July 13.

Since the shootings, the Homicide Unit's Platoon Squad 1, led by Lt. Philip Riehl, has worked to piece together the players in the unusual case. Detectives have revealed little of their evidence against Hook and have not described a connection between him and Thal and Gilmore.

That might become clearer Wednesday, when Hook's attorney, Christopher Warren, argues before a Common Pleas Court judge that the case against his client is so weak that Hook should be freed.

Warren said he believed the only evidence against Hook is a statement from Katoya Jones, a 25-year-old acquaintance who lived in the Navona building.

According to sources familiar with the case, Jones has said Hook called her the night before the shootings and asked to meet for a drink. He then recruited her to help in what she was told would be a burglary of Thal's apartment.

Jones has been charged with murder for allowing one of the gunmen into the building. That gunman was captured on surveillance nonchalantly following her through the front door.

Warren said Jones' statement is "inherently suspect" and not enough to hold Hook. It is unknown if any of the other suspects have implicated Hook, but Warren insisted his client does not know any of them.

Warren said any deal offered to Murchison, described by police as the primary gunman, to implicate his client would be an indication of the weakness of the case.

"What are you going to do? Offer a deal to the person who committed the murders?" Warren said. "I would actually look at that as a positive development."

More light also could be shed on the case after police find and interview the man seen on surveillance leaving Thal's apartment, carrying a bag, after the shootings.

The man, whom police have dubbed "the big guy," is believed to have been an associate of Gilmore's in a possible trafficking business. Gilmore drove a tractor-trailer, which police said might have been a front for drug-running.

How Gilmore and Thal were linked also remains unknown. Sources have described Thal, who had at least two drug arrests, as either a "holder" of drugs and money or an active trafficker.

She had worked in the city's club scene since at least the late 1990s. In 2003, she founded RiGirl Productions, and was known for throwing club events that attracted professional athletes, celebrities, and aspiring rap stars.

Murchison, 33, was collared Wednesday night in Northeast Philadelphia after a chase that left a deputy U.S. marshal in the hospital.

Marshals were staking out a home on Ryerson Street when they saw Murchison climbing out a second-story window, said John Patrignani, acting chief deputy for the U.S. Marshals Office, which tracks fugitives as part of a task force with local authorities.

The injured marshal, whose name was not released yesterday, radioed for backup and gave chase with detectives. A van struck him as he chased Murchison across nearby Willits Road. The driver of the van is not related to the investigation, Patrignani said.

The marshal was taken to Aria Health-Torresdale Campus with a head injury, bumps, and bruises. He was still in the intensive care unit yesterday, but was improving and may be released as early as today, Patrignani said.

Wright, 28, also was arrested Wednesday. Police said he can be seen on surveillance video taken from inside Thal's building as he stepped from a stairwell moments before Thal and Gilmore were shot.

Wright followed the third gunman, identified as Edward Daniels, 42, who was arrested July 11 while meeting with his parole officer.

Court records and interviews with other defense attorneys in the case have revealed few connections between Thal, Hook, and the other suspects.

Hook, who also has used the names James Wilson and Keith Epps, briefly was in the same prison as Murchison in 2005. Murchison was serving 10 to 20 years for the armed robbery of a North Philadelphia barbershop - a job that netted him $20, a gold chain, and a gold ring.

Hook has an adult criminal history dating to 1987, when he was sentenced to 18 months in prison for aggravated assault and firearms convictions.

The case that sent him to prison the longest followed a 1990 search of his North Philadelphia home, in which police seized cocaine, cash, and drug-packaging materials.

According to court records, Hook went to trial in April 1991 but fled the courthouse after the judge rejected his lawyer's move to suppress the evidence because the search was illegal.

Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Ricardo C. Jackson had Hook tried in absentia, ruling that he made an informed decision to flee after he knew the suppression motion was denied.

Hook remained a fugitive until he was arrested in September 1991 on an unrelated charge. In a protracted series of appeals, his conviction was overturned, reinstated by Superior Court, and affirmed by the state Supreme Court.

Prison officials said he began serving his five- to 10-year prison term in October 1998. He was paroled to a Philadelphia halfway house in May 2000, but twice returned to prison for parole violations.

Paroled for the last time on June 26, 2005, Hook returned to Philadelphia.

Contact staff writer Troy Graham at 215-854-2730 or tgraham@phillynews.com.

Inquirer staff writer Kia Gregory contributed to this article.

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